Air Peace (P4, Lagos) has blamed USD15 million in losses and widespread flight disruptions last week on SmartLynx Airlines (6Y, Riga), which it claimed abruptly withdrew four A320-200s the Nigerian carrier had been wet-leasing.

Speaking to reporters in Lagos on November 14, Chief Commercial Officer Nowel Ngala said: "We consider this action by SmartLynx to be a serious breach of contract, fraudulent, and a premeditated scheme. This withdrawal was done without prior notice, a clear violation of industry standards and of the agreement between both parties," he said in a statement carried in full by the newspaper Vanguard.

"What makes this even more concerning is that SmartLynx had collected money upfront from Air Peace, fully aware that the rightful owners of those aircraft would be withdrawing their aircraft from them because they have been in default of payments to the said owners," he said.

"Over USD5 million of our money, including over USD1 million paid as security deposits for those aircraft, is with them while they are about to run away from Nigeria, and this situation has caused over USD15 million in damages to Air Peace," he said. "These aircraft had already been rostered for scheduled flights, and their sudden removal created significant gaps in our operations."

SmartLynx Airlines (the Latvian AOC), sold to the management team and Dutch fund Stichting Break Point Distressed Assets Management, filed for court-supervised restructuring on October 28 and must submit a restructuring plan to Riga District Court by February 28, 2026.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for previous shareholder Avia Solutions Group (ASG) confirmed to ch-aviation that the group had also sold 100% of the Maltese and Estonian SmartLynx subsidiaries to the Dutch fund in early November.

"We will not comment further on the terms and conditions of the sale aside from reiterating that the sale was conducted entirely in accordance with Latvian and EU law. All subsequent decisions have been managed entirely by the new ownership," she said.

ch-aviation reached out for comment from the new owners of SmartLynx Airlines.

Parked in Lagos

According to ch-aviation and ADS-B data, the four A320-200s that had been wet-leased to Air Peace are:

  • ES-SAY (msn 2689), parked at Lagos since November 13. The 19.7-year-old unit is wet-leased from SmartLynx Airlines Estonia and is owned by Global Principal Finance;
  • 9H-EDO (msn 3954), wet-leased from SmartLynx Airlines Malta, is owned by Castlelake. The 16.4-year-old aircraft was ferried from Lagos to Lourdes/Tarbes on November 11;
  • YL-LDM (msn 2975), wet-leased from SmartLynx Airlines in Riga, is owned by AerCap. The 19-year-old jet was ferried to Lourdes/Tarbes on October 16; and
  • 9H-IVO (ex-ES-SAB, msn 3644), wet-leased from SmartLynx's Maltese AOC, is owned by AerCap. The 17-year-old aircraft already left Air Peace on May 11 and is currently stored at Lourdes/Tarbes.

Ngala said Air Peace had released three of the aircraft in question to their rightful owners. "One more aircraft remains [likely ES-SAY] and all we are requesting is a refund of our funds."

He said Air Peace had entered into wet-lease agreements with SmartLynx because 13 of its aircraft are currently undergoing scheduled maintenance abroad. However, some of the in-house fleet have completed maintenance and are returning to service. "Two aircraft have already arrived," he added, and the airline expects to resume full operations across all its routes as more of its aircraft return.

He said the airline is "taking every necessary step" to hold all defaulting partners accountable.